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Friday, February 24, 2012

NOTE from DearMYRTLE: The following was received from Archives.com and it speaks of another worthwhile partnership.

Archives.com Partners with W.E.B. DuBois Institute to Publish the Patriots of Color Database

Exclusive data collection highlights the contributions of black Americans in the Revolutionary War

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Feb. 24, 2012 -- In honor of Black History Month, Archives.com,
a website devoted to making family history simple and affordable, today
announced the launch of the Patriots of Color Database. Archives.com
is bringing this collection online for the first time, compiling years
of research facilitated by the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and
African American Research at Harvard University. These records unveil
new and invaluable information about some of the men and women of color
who fought for American independence in such roles as soldiers, skilled
craftsmen, and servants. This new collection, of critical importance to
historians, academics, and the general public, is now available for free
at http://www.Archives.com/Patriots.

Henry Louis Gates Jr., the Director
of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute notes, “I was filming ‘African American
Lives’ for PBS when historical researcher Jane Ailes shared a discovery
that my fourth great-grandfather John Redman served in the Light
Dragoons of the Continental Army from 1778-1784. I was astonished and
delighted, and it drove me to want to learn more about other men and
women of color who fought to win America’s independence.”

People
of African descent were often not well documented in census records and
traditional sources, making African family history research uniquely
challenging. This
Patriots of Color Database is a first large step in bringing to life the
stories of early Americans of color and the contributions they’ve made
to American history. Over two years of research has focused on verifying
the service and complexion of patriots from each of the 13 colonies
using primarily original recordssuch
as pension and bounty land application files, muster and pay rolls,
lists of troops, court records, legislative records, census records, and
more.

“Archives.com
is proud to publish this valuable historical information and make it
freely available to family historians and historical researchers,” said
Director of Product Joe Godfrey. “This is ultimately just the beginning
of a much more extensive project, and we’re excited to encourage more
research and exploration of this relatively unknown and underappreciated
group of patriots.”

Funding for this project has been generously provided by David
Roux, Richard Gilder and the Gilder Lehrman Foundation, Joseph Dooley
and the Sons of the American Revolution, and the W. E. B. DuBois
Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard
University. Jane Ailes has acted as the primary researcher. The
database is a summary of a portion of the information so far collected
for each Patriot. This is the beginning of an extensive project, and
these data are being made available at an early stage to encourage more
research and scholarship, with further information to be published in
the future. The Patriots of Color database is free for anyone to search and explore at http://www.Archives.com/Patriots.

About Archives

Archives.com
is a leading family history website that makes discovering family
history simple and affordable. The company has assembled more than 2
billion historical records in a single location, and makes them
available at a price that's up to 80 percent less than the leading
competitor. Archives also partners with other leading family history
websites to provide integrated record collections, discounted
memberships, official certificates and other special promotions.
Archives.com is free to try for seven days, allowing anyone to explore
the benefits of membership without risk or obligation. Archives.com is
owned and operated by Inflection, a fast-growing data commerce company.
Find more information at www.Inflection.com.